Jay Som Announces Sophomore Album ANAK KO Out 8/23 on Polyvinyl

Today Jay Som - a.k.a. Melina Duterte - announces her sophomore album, Anak Ko, pronounced Ah-nuh Koh, and meaning "my child" in Filipino.The follow-up to her breakout debut album Everybody Works, which received countless year-end list accolades in 2017, this album was completed during a week-long solo retreat to Joshua Tree. While much has changed both sonically and personally for Jay Som in the two whirlwind years since her debut, Duterte still recorded, produced, engineered and mixed this album herself at home, though this time in her newly adoptive city of Los Angeles. Additionally, for the first time, Duterte invited some friends -including Vagabon's Laetitia Tamko, Chastity Belt's Annie Truscott, Justus Proffit, Boy Scouts' Taylor Vick, as well as bandmates Zachary Elasser, Oliver Pinnell and Dylan Allard-to collaborate on additional vocals, drums, guitars, strings, and pedal steel. Anak Ko will be released on August 23rd via Polyvinyl Record Co. - see below for album art and tracklisting, pre-order and pre-save the album HERE.

The album's explosive lead single "Superbike" is out now, alongside a video that features behind-the-scenes footage of the writing and recording process of Anak Ko. For one of her favorite songs on the record, Duterte aimed for the genius combination of "Cocteau Twins and Alanis Morissette"-"letting loose over swirling shoegaze," she explains. "I came up with the vocal melody while chopping onions during a rare snowstorm in Joshua Tree, definitely one of my favorite memories from making the album." Listen to the song and check out the video HERE.

To celebrate the announcement of Anak Ko, Jay Som also reveals a massive international Fall tour in addition to her previously announced Pitchfork Festival performance this Summer. All dates go on-sale June 7th at 10 am locally, with North American pre-sale tickets go on sale today at 10am EST with password "ANAKKO" - see below to find a show near you and get tickets HERE.

Tour Dates:

07/20 - Chicago, IL @ Pitchfork Music Festival

09/11 - Phoenix, AZ @ The Rebel Lounge #$

09/12 - San Diego, CA @ The Irenic #$

09/13 - Los Angeles, CA @ Echoplex #$

09/14 - San Francisco, CA @ The Fillmore #$

09/17 - Vancouver, BC @ Imperial #$

09/18 - Seattle, WA @ Neumos #$

09/19 - Portland, OR @ Doug Fir Lounge #$

09/20 - Boise, ID @ Neurolux #$

09/21 - Salt Lake City, UT @ Urban Lounge #$

09/24 - Denver, CO @ Larimer Lounge #$

09/26 - Dallas, TX @ Club Dada #$

09/27 - Austin, TX @ Barracuda #$

09/28 - Houston, TX @ White Oak Music Hall (Upstairs) #$

10/15 - Lawrence, KS @ Granada %#

10/16 - Minneapolis, MN @ 7th Street Entry %#

10/17 - Madison, WI @ High Noon Saloon %#

10/18 - Chicago, IL @ Lincoln Hall %#

10/19 - Columbus, OH @ The Basement %#

10/21 - Detroit, MI @ El Club %#

10/22 - Toronto, ON @ Velvet Underground %#

10/23 - Montreal, QC @ Bar Le Ritz PDB %#

10/25 - Brooklyn, NY @ Elsewhere %#

10/26 - Cambridge, MA @ The Sinclair %#

10/27 - Burlington, VT @ ArtsRiot %#

10/29 - Philadelphia, PA @ The Foundry %#

10/30 - Washington, DC @ Rock & Roll Hotel %#

10/31 - Raleigh, NC @ Kings %#

11/01 - Atlanta, GA @ The Masquerade (Purgatory Stage) %#

11/02 - Nashville, TN @ The High Watt %#

11/07 - Hamburg, Germany @ Molotow (Sky Bar)

11/09 - Stockholm, Sweden @ Bar Brooklyn

11/10 - Copenhagen, Denmark @ Ideal Bar

11/12 - Berlin, Germany @ Kantine am Berghain

11/15 - Paris, France @ Supersonic

11/16 - Brussels, Belgium @ Botanique (Witloof Bar)

11/17 - Amsterdam, Netherlands @ Bitterzoet

11/19 - Brighton, UK @ Patterns

11/20 - London, UK @ The Garage

11/21 - Leeds, UK @ Brudenell Social Club

11/22 - Bristol, UK @ Exchange

11/24 - Manchester, UK @ YES (Pink Room)

11/25 - Nottingham, UK @ The Bodega Social Club

11/26 - Glasgow, UK @ Stereo

11/27 - Dublin, Ireland @ The Workmans Club

# w/ Boy Scouts

$ w/ Affectionately

% w/ Gia Margaret

More on Jay Som + Anak Ko:

Melina Duterte is a master of voice: Hers are dream pop songs that hint at a universe of her own creation. Recording as Jay Som since 2015, Duterte's world of shy, swirling intimacies always contains a disarming ease, a sky-bent sparkle and a grounding indie-rock humility. In an era of burnout, the title track of her 2017 breakout, Everybody Works, remains a balm and an anthem.

Duterte's life became a whirlwind in the wake of Everybody Works. After spending her teen years and early 20s exploring an eclectic array of musical styles-studying jazz trumpet as a child, carrying on her Filipino family tradition of spirited karaoke, and quietly recording indie-pop songs in her bedroom alone-that accomplished album found her playing festivals around the world, sharing stages with the likes of Paramore, Death Cab for Cutie, and Mitski.

In November of 2017, seeking a new environment, Duterte left her home of the Bay Area for Los Angeles. There, she demoed new songs, while also embracing opportunities to do session work and produce, engineer, and mix for other artists (like Sasami, Chastity Belt). Reckoning with the relative instability of musicianhood, Duterte turned inward, tuning ever deeper into her own emotions and desires as a way of staying centered through huge changes. She found a community; she fell in love. And for an artist whose career began after releasing her earliest collection of demos - 2015's hazy but exquisitely crafted Turn Into - in a fit of drunken confidence on Thanksgiving night, she finally quit drinking for good. "I feel like a completely different person," she reflects. Positivity was a way forward.

The striking clarity of her new music reflects that shift. After months of poring over pools of demos, Duterte, now 25, essentially started over. She wrote most of her brilliant new album, Anak Ko-pronounced Ah-nuh Koh-in a burst during a self-imposed week-long solo retreat to Joshua Tree. As in the past, Duterte recorded at home (in some songs, you can hear the washer/dryer near her bedroom) and remained the sole producer, engineer, and mixer. But for the first time, she recruited friends-including Vagabon's Laetitia Tamko, Chastity Belt's Annie Truscott, Justus Proffitt, Boy Scouts' Taylor Vick, as well as bandmates Zachary Elasser, Oliver Pinnell and Dylan Allard-to contribute additional vocals, drums, guitars, strings, and pedal steel. Honing in on simplicity and groove, refining her skills as a producer, Duterte cracked her sound open subtly, highlighting its best parts: She's bloomed.

The title Anak Ko is the Filipino phrase for "my child." It was inspired by an unassuming text message from Duterte's mother, who has always addressed her as such: Hi anak ko, I love you anak ko. "It's an endearing thing to say, it feels comfortable," Duterte reflects, likening the process of creating and releasing an album, too, to "birthing a child." That sense of care charges Anak Ko, as does another concept Duterte has found herself circling back to: the importance of patience and kindness.

"In order to change, you've got to make so many mistakes," Duterte says, reflecting on her recent growth as an artist with a zen-like calm. "What's helped me is forcing myself to be even more peaceful and kind with myself and others. You can get so caught up in attention, and the monetary value of being a musician, that you can forget to be humble. You can learn more from humility than the flashy stuff. I want kindness in my life. Kindness is the most important thing for this job, and empathy."

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